Piano Festival 2012

McNeese State University Piano Festival 2012
Friday, September 7th
through Sunday, September 9th

Join us for a weekend of piano recitals, master classes and lectures with world renowned pianist and pedagogue,

Nelita True
The Eastman School of Music, Rochester, NY

and concert pianist

Sergio MonteiroOklahoma City University, OK

Guest Artists:

Nelita True

Since Nelita True made her debut at age seventeen with the Chicago Symphony in Orchestra Hall and her New York debut with the Juilliard Orchestra in Avery Fisher Hall, her career has taken her to the major cities of Western and Eastern Europe, Indonesia, Korea, Japan, Mexico, Iceland, New Zealand, Brazil, Australia, Canada, India, and to Hong Kong and Singapore, as well as to all fifty states in America. She was a visiting professor at the St. Petersburg Conservatory in Russia, performing and conducting master classes and has been in the People's Republic of China more than 20 times for recitals and master classes.

Ms. True has been described in Clavier Companion as "One of the world's most sought-after and beloved pianist-teachers." Her students have won top prizes in national and international competitions, and many of her former students now serve on the faculties of major schools around the country. Formerly Distinguished Professor at the University of Maryland, Ms. True is currently Professor of Music at the Eastman School of Music. She was awarded the Certificate of Merit by the Alumni Association of the University of Michigan, the Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching at Eastman, the 2002 Achievement Award from the Music Teachers' National Association, the Lifetime Achievement Award in Graduate Education from the University of Rochester, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Keyboard Pedagogy Conference (USA).

Ms. True has been a jury member for the Dublin International Piano Competition, China International Piano Competition (Beijing), Shenzhen (China) International Concerto Competition, the Queen Sonja International Piano Competition (Oslo), the National Piano Competition in Brazil, the Horowitz Competition (Kiev), the Concours de Musique in Canada, the PTNA (Tokyo), the Lev Vlassenko Competition in Australia, and the Gina Bachauer, New Orleans, Hilton Head, and William Kapell International Piano Competitions in the U.S.

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate of the University of Michigan as a student of Helen Titus, Ms. True went on to Juilliard to study with Sascha Gorodnitzki, and then earned the DMA with Leon Fleisher at the Peabody Conservatory. In Paris, she studied with Nadia Boulanger on a Fulbright grant.

S and H Productions of Kansas City produced a series of four videotapes, "Nelita True at Eastman," featuring her performances, lectures, and teaching. These videos are currently being seen on five continents. She has been featured in articles in Clavier, Piano Today, The European Piano Teachers' Journal, and is the subject of cover stories in Keyboard Companion and Clavier Companion.

Sergio Monteiro

Sergio Monteiro, head of the piano program at Oklahoma City University's Bass School of Music, was born in Niteroi, Brazil. He began piano study at the age of 4, with his mother, and went on to work under the guidance of Myrian Dauelsberg at the National Music School of Rio de Janeiro, where he completed the bachelor's and master's Degrees. During this period, he won several Brazilian and other South American piano competitions. In 2000, he was awarded a scholarship by the Ministry of Culture to study at the Eastman School of Music in the U.S., where he earned his Doctor of Musical Arts under Nelita True. He won important prizes at the institution, including the Performance Certificate and the Concerto Competition.

In 2003, Dr. Monteiro won the 2nd Annual Martha Argerich International Piano Competition in Buenos Aires. He was invited to play at the opening Concert of the Martha Argerich Festival with the Buenos Ayres Philharmonic conducted by Charles Dutoit, thus launching his international career. After the competition, he was selected to take part in the International Piano Academy, at Como, Italy, where he worked for two years with pianists and teachers such as Bashkirov, Andreas Staier, Fou T'song, Claude Frank and Willian Grant Nabore.

Dr. Monteiro has appeared with some of the most prestigious orchestras in South America, Europe and North America, under the direction of Charles Dutoit, Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, Pedro Ignacio Calderon, Mark Parker, Neil Varon, Joel Levine, Eduard Schmieder, Misha Raschlevsky, Ira Levin, Anton Nanut, Grahan Jackson, Gabor Hollerung, among others. Among Brazilian conductors, he has played under the direction of Issac Karabitchevsky, Ligia Amadio, Roberto Tibirica, Carlos Moreno, Roberto Duarte, Flavio Florence, Diogo Pacheco, Northon Morozowicks, and more.

Among his more recent artistic engagements, he gave the Brazilian premiere of John Corigliano's Piano Concerto; gave the premiere of Almeida Prado's Gravuras Sonoras a D. Joao VI - for piano and orchestra; performed at the Kremlin in Moscow with the Kremlin Chamber Orchestra and in Rio de Janeiro with the Dredner Philarmonic; and gave recitals at the Palestrina Hall, in Roma, at the Konzerthaus and at the Philarmonie, in Berlin, at the Mozarteum Argentino, in Buenos Ayres, at the Sibelius Academy, in Helsinki, at the Millenium Stage in Kennedy Center and at the Steinway Halls in New York and Dallas.

In the Spring/2011, among other commitments, Dr. Monteiro performed at the Civic Center, Oklahoma City, with the Oklahoma City Phillarmonic and at the Toronto Center for the Arts with the Toronto Orchestra.

In addition to recitals in Switzerland, Italy, Holland, Germany, Brazil and performances with the Turmalin Trio in Holland and Germany, he has lectured, adjudicated and led master classes at schools around the world.

An energetic champion of Brazilian music, Dr. Monteiro has been honored by many composers with invitations to give premieres of compositions written for and dedicated to him. In 2008, he released a CD featuring Villa-Lobos' complete cycle of Prole do Bebe. In 2010, Dr. Monteiro was invited to join the Steinway Artists' Roster.

Festival Information:

Application and festival fee for participants: $20 (non-refundable)

All pre-college (ages 13 and up) and college undergraduate students are invited to send an audition CD to be selected to play in one of the master classes with renowned pedagogue Nelita True or with concert pianist Sergio Monteiro. This fee also includes access to all concerts and lectures. All applicants will perform in the final concert.

Deadline for submission of application form and CD: postmarked by Wednesday, August 22nd, 2012.

Ticket Information:

Festival package:

General public: $30. This fee includes access to all events: concerts, master classes, lectures.

Tickets for individual events:

Each master class/lecture: $5

Pre-concert lecture and concert: $10

Events are free for MSU students, pre-college students, parents and immediate family members of participating applicants.

*Final student concert on Sunday, September 9th is free and open to public

2012 MSU Piano Festival Event Schedule

All events will take place in the newly built Shearman Fine Arts Addition Theater

Friday, September 7th:

Saturday, September 8th:

11:00 am: "From Gen Y to the Piano Guys - The Changing Landscape of Music and Teaching", Dr. Christy Vogt-Corley, McNeese State University

2:00 pm: Master class, Professor Nelita True

Q+A session to follow Ms. True's master class

6:45 pm: Pre-concert lecture, Dr. Bryan Proksch

7:30 pm: Concert, Dr. Sergio Monteiro

Reception to follow

Sunday, September 9th:

11:00 am: Master class, Dr. Sergio Monteiro

2:00 pm: Festival Participants' Concert

Final reception to follow

Schedule is subject to change.

McNeese State University Festival Faculty

Lina Morita

Pianist LINA MORITA, a native of São Paulo, Brazil, has performed in various solo and chamber music performances across the US and abroad. She has performed recitals at the University of North Dakota, Sam Houston State University, University of Southern Mississippi, Louisiana State University, Tulane University, Church of the Epiphany (DC), Music Center at Strathmore (MD), Atlas Performing Arts Center (DC), St. Mary's College, National City Christian Church (DC), Sala Xochipilli, UNAM (Mexico).

Recently, Ms. Morita performed the Mozart "Jeunehomme" Concerto and the Chopin Fm Concerto with the Ars Nova Chamber Orchestra. Other concerto appearances include the Beethoven Concerto No. 4 with the Lake Charles Symphony and the Washington Sinfonietta with conductor Joel Lazar. As a master class presenter, she has been invited to teach at various venues, such as the University of North Dakota, the University of Southern Mississippi, Lake Charles Piano Teachers Association, and the Baton Rouge Piano Teachers Association. Morita has also served as an adjudicator in state and national competitions.

Morita has received the D.M.A. degree from the Eastman School of Music in Piano Performance and Literature; the M.M. from Rice University; and the B.M. from Indiana University. Her primary studies have been with Nelita True, Robert Roux, Edmund Battersby, and Michel Block. Morita is currently the Assistant Professor of Piano at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, LA.

Dr. Christy Vogt-Corley

Christy Vogt-Corley is Assistant Professor Piano/Piano Pedagogy and Coordinator of the Keyboard Area at McNeese State University. She also directs the piano preparatory program, an outreach to the community which provides teaching experiences for piano majors.

Dr. Vogt-Corley has given masterclasses and pedagogy workshops throughout the region on topics such as 20th Century Piano Literature for the Intermediate-Early Advanced Pianist, Getting Theory Off the Page, and Ideas for Teaching Creative Skills to Elementary Piano Students.

Actively involved in MTNA at the state and local levels, Dr. Vogt-Corley currently serves as President of the Lake Charles Piano Teachers Association and Collegiate Chapters Chair for the Louisiana Music Teachers Association.

Dr. Vogt-Corley received the DMA in Keyboard Performance and Pedagogy from the University of Miami under Dr. Kenon Renfrow and the Masters in Music Education, Piano Pedagogy, from the University of Oklahoma under Dr. E.L. Lancaster and Dr. Jane Magrath.

Bryan Proksch

Bryan Proksch is assistant professor of music at McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, where he coordinates instruction in musicology, music theory, aural skills. His research centers on the reception and "revival" of Haydn's music in the early twentieth century, though he also works more generally on Viennese Classicism. He has also worked extensively on the history and repertoire of the trumpet. His essays have appeared in the Journal of the American Musicological Society (2011), the Journal of Musicological Research (2009), the Historic Brass Society Journal (2008 & 2011), the International Trumpet Guild Journal (2003, 2007, 2009, & 2011) and elsewhere. His entry on Herb Alpert will be placed in the New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians in the near future. He has spoken at symposia held by the Haydn Festspiele in Eisenstadt, Austria (2011), by the Arnold Schönberg Center in Vienna (2006), by York University in Toronto, Canada (2009) and at meetings of the American Musicological Society (2005 & 2008) and the Historic Brass Society (2008 & 2010). In 2007 he received grants from the Avenir Foundation and from McNeese for a month's residence at the Schönberg Center to study that composer's aesthetics and analytic techniques. In 2010 the Historic Brass Society gave him the Joe Utley Foundation Streitwieser Award for his ongoing work on trumpet history. His service includes working as the creator and editor of the International Trumpet Guild Journal's "Repertoire Corner" column, as the newsletter/website editor for the Historic Brass Society, and as the organist and music director at St. John's Lutheran Church in Lake Charles.